It's April, and that means that it won't be long until the open water swimming venues around the country start dusting off the buoys and preparing for the inrush of lunatics wearing rubber and looking for something near-freezing to swim in. We've begun to assemble a list of those facilities we already know about but consider this a 'work in progress'. If readers know of additional venues that are open for public access then please email us the information and we'll add them to the list - at the moment we know it's far from complete!

Cotswold Water Park

The Cotswold Water Park has two lakes where open water swimming is permitted; Keynes Country Park and Lake 32. Various organisations run sessions at these lakes through the Summer months and there are also specific training days, Jan Whiting runs some of these, and an aquathlon series. Although the lakes are open to the public, just as with any other body of water, that doesn't mean that you can just turn up and swim! Please check out the links and find out when sessions are running.

Gosfield Lake, Essex

Gosfield Lake will open for the 2008 season on Sunday 27th April 2008. Sessions run on Sunday mornings from 0630 to 0845 and there will also be Tuesday evening sessions running from 1830 to 2100 although the first few weeks will probably end early if it gets too dark. The sessions at the lake are organised by Born2Tri but are open to the public as well as to members of the club.

Hampstead Heath Lido, Parliament Hill

The open water swim season at Hampstead Heath Lido restarts on Tuesday, 6th May 2008. The swim sessions will be 90 minutes in duration and will start promptly at 7.00 pm. This 60m x 30m pool is ideally suited for specific triathlon swim fitness training. Training sessions are generally undertaken in your wetsuit (although not compulsory!) and will include tri specific swim drills. These coached swim sessions are specifically designed to meet triathletes open water swim needs and will typically include a warm up, tri-specific swim drills, main performance set and warm down.

The Lido is located off Gordon House Road, Parliament Hill, London NW5 and is a short walk from Gospel Oak and Kentish Town stations, additionally there is a car park opposite the lido.

For more information email: terencecollins9@gmail.com or go to: www.triforfitness.co.uk

Heron Lake, J13 M25

Probably one of the longest-running open water venues, the facility uses the British Disabled Water Skiing's Tony Edge Centre's lake which was originally dug for the gravel and then deepened for the clay which was used for the M25 embankments. It's around 70' deep in the middle and is constantly fed from the water table - the lake is owned by Three Valleys who use it as a back-up water supply. The season will start on Saturday 26th April with sessions on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays from 6am to 8:30am until mid-September. Sessions cost £5 or can be pre-booked in blocks at a discount.

Heron Lake suggest that anyone who has never swum in open water should atttend one of Rick Kiddle's Open Water Swim Courses which cost £25 (+ VAT) per person. Courses are being run on May 10th/11th, May 17th/18th, May 24th/25th, June 14th, June 28th/29th, July 5th/6th, July 26th/27th and August 2nd/3rd. All courses start promptly at 6.45am and finish at 8.15am.

The lake is supported by Rick Kiddle Coaching who run both group and one-to-one sessions there. For more information on these see Rick's website (www.rickkiddle.com) or contact him on 07770 391 966. Rick will also be setting up a number of turbo trainers for people who want to do brick sessions and you can pre-book these using the contact number. Windsor-based SBR Sports, who were instrumental in saving the lake from being closed to swimming a few years back, provide retail support and have wetsuits from Orca, Aqua Sphere and blueseventy that can be hired for try-out sessions, if you buy the hire fee is refunded against the suit cost. They will also be arranging 'vendor days' during the season when a wider range of suits will be available for test.

The lake has a GPS-measured 987m loop plus a 70m measured section for intervals, being a water skiing lake there are plenty of alternate buoys for other loops. Facilities at the lake include changing, showers, toilets and hot food and drinks. Parking can be a bit of an issue and the lake may shut the gates when it reaches capacity - the entrance is just off the M25 Junction 13 roundabout so overflow isn't an option!

Liquid Leisure, Datchet

2008 is the third year of Open Water Swim's operation at the Liquid Leisure water skiing lake in Datchet. Just a couple of miles from either the M25 (J14) or the M4 (J5), the lake is another filled in gravel pit and is constantly refreshed from the water table (and the next-door reservoir if the pipe breaks again!). The season starts on [UPDATED] Saturday 26th April and sessions run on Saturdays, Sundays, Tuesdays, Thursdays and Bank Holidays from 6am to 8:45am. Sessions cost £5 or can be pre-booked in blocks at a discount.

The lake is supported by TriSportCoaching who will be providing both group and one-to-one sessions there and it is also the home to a number of pro athletes including Richard Stannard and Emma Davis who offer elite coaching sessions as well. The lake is sponsored by Mike Trees's Triathlon Consultants and so the whole 2XU wetsuit range will be available for trial throughout the season. A series of aquathlons will be staged throughout the summer on Saturday mornings as warm-ups for key races in the calendar with prizes on offer.

The lake is set up with a number of GPS-measured buoyed courses offering 250m, 500m, and 750m loops allowing almost any combination of distances to be swum. Facilities at the lake include changing, showers, toilets, a sauna and hot tub, hot drinks from the bar and a cafe providing hot food cooked to order. The water ski club have installed a wireless broadband access point which is available for free to those who swim so you can train, have breakfast and check your email!

Salford Watersports Centre

The Watersports Centre at Salford Quays (home of the Salford Triathlon) holds open water swimming sessions on Thursday evenings from 6:30pm to 8:30pm. The 2008 season starts on May 1st. The Centre provides full water safety cover during the session but request that each swimmer limits their swim to an hour. A session costs £5, juniors (under 16) are £4 but you can buy a 'passport' to reduce the cost. All swimmers must pre-register, see the Salford website for the forms and their terms and conditions.

Swim for Tri

Dan Bullock's Swim for Tri are organising some open water sessions this summer. On Saturday mornings at Roydon Mill Leisure Park in Essex there will be a fitness session from 8am to 9am and a technique session from 9am to 10am. They will also be running sessions in the Serpentine on Wednesday evenings from 7pm to 8:30pm. Information has already gone out to their newsletter subscribers and the website is being updated but you can email for details: info@swimfortri.com

Top Barn Activity Centre, Worcester

Runaround Sports have set up an open water swimming venue at the Top Barn Activity Centre's lake in association with Triathlon Consultants/2XU. Sessions have already started - they went in at Easter! - and will be held on Saturday mornings (8am to 9:30am) and Thursday evenings (5:30pm to 7:30pm starting April 3rd).

For more information on the sessions and the facilities please contact Runaround Sports on 01905 622288.